Processing Summer

On Sunday we got back from the best church event of the year, Disciple Now. Over the weekend while I was sitting in my small group and going through the book, my group started talking about this summer and all the events going on and how great it would be. One of the guys in my group said that for Serve (another big event) he was gonna request that "his DNow group" or "the Mob" (long story) be put in his Serve group. Our group was discussing how great it would be if we were all together for Serve and how much fun that would be. On Sunday night after the middle school youth group was over a lot of the leaders were hanging out in the Leaders' Room talking about two other trips the youth group is going on this summer. During the weekend my youth pastor announced sign-ups for summer small groups and talked about some other things that we would do this summer.

I hadn't really thought of missing so much this summer. I did realize that I would be missing Serve, hanging out with my friends, a big concert that our life group goes to, and a bunch of other things, but I just hadn't thought about how much time I would be gone and how many things I would miss.

Two months. It doesn't sound like very much time, just a few months, just eight weeks. But then I think of it in terms of days and hours and minutes, and all of a sudden it's huge. All of a sudden it seems like such a long time. I'll be away from my family for that long. I'll be away from my friends for that long. I'll be away from my church and my youth group for that long. I had never thought about how hard it's going to be leave my life behind for two months and go explore the Middle East.

The other day I was talking to my dad about how I was sad that I was going to miss so many things this summer. He told me that when I came back I would be talking to my friends and they would tell me how great Serve was or how great the trip to Daytona Beach in Florida was, and I would have so many amazing stories that I would be embarrassed to tell them because of how badly they beat the other stories.

True. I don't even like to talk about living in Europe because if I bring it up instead of someone asking me, I feel like I'm bragging about my experiences and I feel like people will think that I'm bragging about it. So I just don't talk about it unless someone asks me. Dad was probably right when he said that I'll be too embarrassed to tell the stories that I have to other people.

I think that this summer is going to be so cool because I'm going to the same country that my dad went to on his first trip outside of the country. It's been fun this past couple of months when I'm talking to him and he'll teach me something in Arabic. I try hard to remember everything, even though all I have down is "friend."

I love that my parents trust me enough to send me to the Middle East for two months, and even though I'll miss so much this summer, and even though it's gonna be hard to leave my family for so long, I absolutely cannot wait.